Arms Dealer Convicted Over Illegal Gun Deal

A UK arms dealer has been jailed for seven years for his part in a deal to ship thousands of AK47 assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition from China to Nigeria.

43-year-old Gary Hyde was sentenced at Southwark crown court in London after being convicted on two counts of breaching UK trade controls and concealing criminal property.

The court heard how Hyde, of Newton on Derwent, near York, moved the weapons without a licence and hid more than $1m (£620,460) in commission payments.

Hyde legitimately ran and expanded wholesale business York Guns to the point where it employed 20 staff in 2003 and helped broker various arms deals including some for the British government.

But in 2006 Hyde got involved in the deal between China and Nigeria, the court heard.

The deal between Beijing and Abuja was lawful, but Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said as the middleman, Hyde was caught out by his own greed.

He failed to apply for a licence to take part in the deal, fearing it would be refused, but was attracted by the "enormous profits" to be made, the judge said.

"You got carried away by the enormous profits that could be made elsewhere and, it would seem, in some less responsible company,” the Judge said.

"Applying for a licence would have been easy. There was no evidence you would have got one, the question was never asked. I suspect you thought you would not.

"If you had, you would have also been concerned about the UK authorities finding out about your very substantial earnings."

Hyde, a former special constable, was convicted after a retrial of two counts of becoming knowingly concerned in the movement of controlled goods between March 2006 and December 2007.

(H)